The Case of the Towhead Toddler
by IrishBella
Summary: Regina has nothing to do on her Sunday. And that was her first mistake.


**I know I haven't been posting/updating in a while. I wrote two stories for Swan Queen Supernova which will be posted soon :) and I'm BEYOND excited to share them with you!**

 **This little tidbit was brought to my brain by the little towhead named Emma I babysat for last weekend that I'm finally able to upload.**

 **I will upload to A Mother's Love and finish my other plots soon. Thanks for sticking with me 3**

 **All mistakes are mine.**

"Regina, can you come over? Right now?" Snow asks, frantic over the phone.

Regina pauses, trying to catch her breath without _sounding_ like she's out of breath, "What?"

"I need you to come over. There's been a bit of a...mishap."

"A mishap?" Regina asks, raising an eyebrow and turning away from the harbor and toward the Charming's house.

"Just...just come over. It'd be easier to show you."

Regina rolls her eyes, "Alright Snow, give me 5 minutes." She hangs up by pressing the end button on her arm band and she sighs before takes off toward Snow's.

When she arrives, Snow has the door open and is waiting on the steps. She holds Neal in her arms. "Hi! Oh, I didn't realize you were on a run. Do you have a second?"

With a scoff, Regina answers, "I do now. What is so urgent?"

Snow uses her head to sway in the direction of the backyard. "Charming's in the backyard."

"I swear to the Gods, Snow, if you brought me over here because Charming did something stupid again, I'm going to blast you into next week."

"This one wasn't his fault, Regina."

Regina gives a look that shows she doesn't believe her, but follows her through the house and into the backyard nonetheless. Snow stops. Regina huffs in irritation and moves around Snow and pauses herself. Running around in nothing but a diaper is a toddler, hair white as snow, little curls lie at the back of their neck and bounce as they run rampant across the yard. She tilts her head, studying the child. They show no fear, climbing onto the rickety swingset and jumping off in the same breath. "Who…?" she starts.

"That's Emma," Snow whispers.

Regina scoffs, "No, really, who is that?"

"That's Emma," Snow repeats.

Regina studies the child again. Watching how she completely ignores the adults staring at her, Snow and herself across the lawn, and Charming-watching from the picnic table. She climbs back onto the teeter-totter swing and starts jumping on it until it moves and squeals in delight. This causes all of the adults to smile-including Regina. She's such a sucker for a happy child, even if that child is Miss Swan. "How did this happen?" she asks, turning her attention away from the toddler and back to Snow.

Snow shrugs, "I honestly have no idea, she was like this when she woke up. Thankfully, we made her sleep over here last night. Otherwise, who knows what could have happened! She can't speak so we don't know if she remembers anything, but she's just a toddler. I'm assuming this is what she looked like when she was this age."

Regina nods, "Does she have her magic?"

"Yes, but she doesn't have control."

"She doesn't have control as an adult," Regina scoffs. "I doubt being in toddler form helps."

Snow sighs, "Can you help bring her back?"

"I can try, but it is probably just residual magic that needs to work itself out of her body."

"What does that mean?" Snow asks.

"Mama!" Emma shouts as she jumps up and down on the old swingset.

"Oh dear, Emma. Be careful!" Snow says, as she rushes over, using one hand to lift the toddler off the rickety swingset while holding Neal in the other.

Emma huffs, but immediately loses interest in being angry and takes off toward the sandbox.

Snow hands Neal to Charming and walks back to Regina, "So?"

Regina holds up a finger and waves her other hand across the backyard and then around to the house. "There's magic concentrated upstairs. It's residual so there's nothing I can do. You just have to let it wear off naturally. Eventually, Emma will be back to her usual self."

"Is it dangerous?" Charming asks as he stands behind Snow, holding Neal's head.

Regina tries not to roll her eyes, but fails. The shepherd's stupidity seems to find new ways to surprise her. "Only if you're stupid enough to try to push it out of her."

"What does that mean?" Snow asks.

"If you try to have the magic pushed out of Emma, it will instinctively try to protect her. It's her magic. It thinks it _is_ protecting her; it will be especially protective now that she's a toddler. But you need to be careful about her tantrums as well. I'm not sure if she'll throw one, but if she did, it could lead to problems if her magic goes awry." Snow and Charming share a look, then to Regina, and then back to each other. "What?" Regina asks.

"Well...she did throw a tantrum earlier...because Blue was going to change her back."

Regina rolls her eyes. "Why am I not surprised, that damned moth tries harder to control everyone else's magic than she does actually doing her job."

"Regina," Snow admonishes.

"No Snow. I've told you what you need to do, now it's up to you. It's your decision what to do now."

"We just want what's best for her."

Regina nods, "Then do what you must. I'll show myself out." She turns and starts towards the gate.

"Regina wait!" Snow calls.

"Mama!" Emma yells.

Regina pauses and turns around to see Snow smiling at Emma who is across the yard in the sandbox throwing sand up into the air, completing oblivious to the world around her.

"Yes, Honey, I see!" Snow says to her daughter before she looks at Regina, "Please stay, we were actually wondering if…"

"No."

"But you don't even know what I was going to say," Snow says.

"I don't need to. The answer is no."

"Oh come on Regina, please?" Snow asks nicely.

"No."

"It'll be fun," Charming entices as he holds out a smiling Neal, who reaches toward Regina.

She sighs and reaches for the smiling baby. "What is it?"

"Well, Emma was supposed to watch Neal for us today."

"That's probably not going to be safe," Regina says as she watches the toddler terror run across the yard.

Snow huffs, "It was just so we could go out. I mean, we have reservations and everything...but….I guess….with no one to watch them now…"

Regina rolls her eyes, "I can't believe this," she mutters.

"Henry's gone for the weekend and we know how much you love Neal."

"Yes, to avoid all other forms of your genetics, I much prefer Neal."

Snow smiles and rolls her eyes, "And Emma will be much cuter now that she's toddler-sized."

"Probably listens the same and has the same attention span too."

"I'm going to tell her you said that," Charming says with a chuckle.

"Would you please watch them? Please?" Snow pleads.

Regina shakes her head and sighs, "Fine, I'll watch your offspring. But just for a few hours. Then I'm dropping them off with Maleficent. Got it?"

Snow nods, "Got it. We'll be back during nap time. Okay, everything's written down inside. Bottles and everything are on the counter for Neal. Emma's been fed. Everything will be great. See you later!" With a kiss on Neal's and Emma's heads, Snow and Charming leave the yard and Regina finds herself with two young children.

"Well this should be fun," she mutters, as she resituates Neal in her arms.

She walks over and tries to talk with Emma, "What are you playing with?" "Is that are car?" "Does the car go beep beep?" Emma giggles, but keeps playing without repeating.

"Mama!" She shouts as she stands and moves away from the cars and over to the swingset.

"Mama's not here, Sweetie. She went to lunch with Daddy. She'll be back home later." Regina says as she picks up Neal and follows the toddler. They play on the swingset as Regina talks about the cars and the trees and the birds and clouds in the sky. They swing back and forth and Emma squeal;. Regina chuckles as Neal squeals back.

"Mama!" Emma shouts again as she races back to the sandbox.

"Mama's not here, Sweetie," Regina repeats. She realizes Emma's not actually calling for her mama, she's just using a word she's heard before. _How strange_ Regina muses. Emma must be close to 2 years old, she should be saying at least some words by now.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Emma squeals as she runs from the sandbox around the big tree and back by Regina. She falls on the ground laughing and points at the cloud, "Moo."

Regina looks up, shielding her eyes from the sun. "That's right, Emma; cows go 'moo'. Do you see a cloud that looks like a cow up there?"

Emma goes back to play again and grabs a shovel from the sandbox before running around screaming "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" at the top of her lungs. Regina's not sure who she's saying no to, but hey, she's not hurting anybody right now.

Regina decides to sit on the ground with Neal, criss-crossing her legs and placing him between them so he's resting against her stomach and can see outward, to where his sister seems to be running around like a madwoman.

Emma comes over and stands next to Regina and steps on her shoe with her own little barefoot.

"Do you want shoes on, Sweetie? Where are Emma's shoes?"

"NO!" she shouts.

"Okay then," Regina says as Emma takes off running. She looks around and realizes Emma doesn't have any shoes that fit her right now. So, she uses her magic and brings tiny pair of little pink rainboots in front of her.

Emma comes running back over and gets very excited when she sees the boots and squeals "AHHHHHH!" causing Neal to giggle and squeal too.

Regina smiles and helps her put on the rain boots. She wishes she hadn't taken her phone off her when they walked through the house earlier. She needs to take a picture of this and send it to Henry. She mentally tries takes a photo and sends it to her camera roll, hoping it saves to her phone for later.

She's not sure how long she sits on the patio with Neal watching Emma, but soon she hears tires. _They probably forgot their wallets_ she thinks as she shakes her head. She turns to see a dark car pull into the driveway and Ashley and Sean step out of the car.

"Hi Regina! Did you get Snow's texts?" Ashley asks as she walks around the car to grab a backpack and a blanket from the backseat.

"No, my phone is inside the house," Regina answers. "Why?" she asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, well, our sitter backed out last minute today, and we told Snow we couldn't make it but she told us what happened to Emma and that you were watching both Emma and Neal and that you wouldn't mind is Alex came and hung out for a while."

Regina raises both eyebrows, "Uhhhh, I suppose."

"Okay great!" Sean says as he helps Alex out of her carseat.

Regina stands and shifts Neal and his blanket at her side.

"Oh, Regina, I don't think I've ever seen you dressed so...relaxed." -Ashley

Regina looks down at her running tights, baggy t-shirt and tennis shoes _That's because I was dressed for a run_ she thinks but instead says, "I usually prefer my more professional attire."

"Of course! Totally understand that. Well, Alex will be perfect I'm sure, she and Emma seem to be about the same age, so they'll get along great. She's already been fed so she's good to go. Thanks so much, Regina. Bye!" And with that, Sean and Ashley are in their car and out of the driveway.

"How strange," she murmurs. "Who knowingly leaves their children with the Evil Queen? Idiots. That's who," she harrumphs as she unwraps and rewraps Neal into his tiedye blanket.

She watches Emma and Alex size each other up, each playing with separate toys and never getting too close but never fighting. They move away from each other but always seem to know where the other is, _children are so very odd_.

Neal starts to fuss. Regina picks him up and takes him inside to grab the bottle that was left out on the counter for him. She heads back outside and sits back on the ground as she gives him his bottle.

"Hmmmf. I use to be terrifying," she tells Neal, "I used to make entire armies soil themselves in my presence; cry at the mention of my name. Yet here I am, with two blonde toddlers running around in rainboots, feeding a baby a bottle as I sit on the ground in running clothes. No one would ever believe I was once the Evil Queen. Oh how the mighty have fallen," she mocks to no one at all.

Neal finishes his bottle in record time - man when did this kid start chugging bottles?

Regina notices the air growing cooler, "Emma, Alexandra, let's head inside and eat a snack, okay?" She stands with Neal and starts picking up some toys that are thrown across the patio.

She heads inside and places Neal in his saucer before finding two sippy cups for the girls. Emma drinks down two full glasses in astonishing time and Regina tries to imagine a couple giving up this sweet little girl.

The girls each wander around the living room, playing with some of Neal's toys. Regina kneels on the ground beside Neal's saucer and notices as Emma start rubbing her eyes. She eventually leans against Regina's shoulder, watching Alex and Neal play with some spinning toys on his saucer. Then she's sitting on Regina's lap, with her head leaned back against Regina's neck. _This is the only time Emma can use me as a head rest without getting a fireball to wake her up._

"Are you getting sleepy, Emma?" The little nod against her head makes her smile. She takes another mental snapshot for Henry before she wraps Emma and the little comforter in her arms and carries her up the stairs and lays her in Neals crib-just to be safe. "Goodnight Emma," she whispers as she closes the door to the already sleeping toddler.

She moves to the top of the steps to see Alex, "Did you get frightened my dear? I was just putting Emma down for a nap. Should we head back downstairs and maybe watch a movie before nap time?" She holds out her hand and Alex reaches out both hands, demanding to be picked up. Regina smiles but lifts the young girl into her arms and carries her down the stairs. She places her on the floor in the living room before picking up Emma's sippy cup and placing it on the counter next to Neal's empty bottle.

She walks back into the living room to find Alex standing in the middle of the room blankly staring at the wall. Aaaaaaaand now she remembers why children are freaky. "Alexandra," she calls, to gain the young girl's attention, "would you like to watch a movie?"

The little girl nods excitedly, "Mo-a! Mo-a!"

"I'm sorry?" she asks. She's not familiar with the movie Mona.

"Mo-a!" she yells, pointing at the tv.

Regina looks to see the DVD Moana sitting on the edge of the table. "Alright, let's watch Moana." She plays the movie and sits Alex on the couch with her own blanket before picking up Neal and changing his diaper.

He starts to get fussy again and rubs at his eyes so Regina grabs another bottle and sits on the couch next to Alexandra. Neal falls asleep drinking his bottle and Regina carefully picks him up and places him in his pack-n-play before grabbing her phone and checking her messages.

She sees one from Henry

 _Grams and Gramps say that I'm missing something but all I see in this picture is you on a run. What's going on? Why does all the cool stuff happen when I'm not with you guys?_

Regina chuckles and opens the attached photo. In the picture, Regina is facing away from the camera. If you look really close, you can see a little tuft of blonde hair-but Henry is not looking for his blonde mother as a toddler.

 _Have fun with your friends. I'll see you when you get home. Be safe! xo_

 _Mom, just PLEASE tell me you took pictures of whatever I missed_

 _Yes dear, I took pictures_

 _YES! Love you! See you tomorrow!_

Regina smiles at her phone and turns to see Alex with her head slumped over, fast asleep, still holding onto her sippy cup. Regina's smile stays on her face as she moves the sippy cup to the coffee table and lays Alex down on the couch, covering her with her blanket. She moves to the kitchen and quietly cleans up what she can. She checks on toddler Emma sound-asleep upstairs and then moves back downstairs to the living room, sitting on the couch beside a sleeping Alexandra and watches part of this movie Moana.

 _What a strange concept_ she thinks as she watches this movie she's never seen. _A princess movie that has nothing to do with a prince? Very strange._

She hears a door open and stands to move into toward it when Ashley and Sean come in, "Hi! How was Lexi?"

"She was great," Regina says with a smile. "She's asleep on the couch right now."

"Oh perfect!" Ashley says as she heads into the living room. "Oh Sean!" she whispers, moving back into the doorway, "Come look at the way she's sleeping before I pick her up."

Regina smiles, remembering the days she would just stand and watch Henry sleep; how sweet and innocent he looked as he slept, completely sprawled out.

Charming and Snow come in next and ask about how Emma and Neal were.

"Did she suddenly turn into an adult?" Charming asks.

"No, but that would have made for quite the story," Regina says with a chuckle.

"Thank you Regina," Snow says, coming over and giving her a hug, which she returns. "We really appreciate it."

Regina nods, "You're welcome." She heads to the door and puts on her tennis and grabs her phone.

"Oh! I'll send you some picture of little Emma before she changes back so you can show Henry, okay?"

Regina smiles, "Okay, I'm sure he'll enjoy all of the pictures."

And that's the story about how Regina Mills watched a pretty little towhead toddler and her baby brother and got roped into watching another little princess on a lazy Sunday afternoon.


End file.
